Strictly for Cash Page 22

  breath, I tugged at the handle of the safe. The door swung open.

  I sat back on my heels and feasted my eyes on the contents. On two shelves were neat

  packages of one-hundred dollar bills: stacks and stacks and stacks of them.

  I pulled the suitcase closer, opened it and began to pack the bundles in. Two hundred and

  fifty of them filled the case: it was the most awe-inspiring sight I’d ever set eyes on. There

  were still another two hundred and fifty bundles left on the shelves. But they didn’t belong to

  me. I left them right where they were. Before I slammed the suitcase shut I took three one-hundred dollar bills out of one package, folded them small and wedged them down the side of

  my shoe. Then I snapped the locks, turned the keys and put them in my pocket. I shut the safe

  door and gave the knob of the lock a couple of turns. Then I dusted the safe with my

  handkerchief and stood up.

  I was panting with excitement and my collar was a wet rag. The hands of the clock showed

  six.

  I took the suitcase to the window, leaned out and dropped it. Then I hooked the hook to the

  window-sill and slid down the rope. When I reached the ground I jerked the hook free, coiled

  the rope and hid it under a shrub. I picked up the suitcase and bolted across the lawn.

  The trucker was just through loading up by the time I got there. He had signed off and was

  getting into his cab. There was no one else around.

  “Just in time, I guess,” I panted.

  He looked me over, hesitated, then gave a resigned grin.

  “Where to, mister?”

  “Got a label?”

  He found one.

  I printed my name on it.

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  John Farrar,

  Sea board Air-Line Railway, Grt. Miami,

  To be called for.

  He wrote out a receipt.

  “Sorry to hold you up,” I said, and gave him ten bucks. “Keep the change.” He nearly fell

  off the truck.

  “I’ll take care of this for you, sir. It’ll be right there waiting for you.”

  I hoped it would.

  I stood back and watched the truck drive away. It made me sweat to think of all that money

  going on that journey without me to guard every yard of it.

  But she was right. It was the smart thing to do. If those two guards spotted the suitcase they

  would want to know what was inside it: especially the green-eyed guard. He had it in for me.

  I folded the receipt the trucker had given me into a narrow ribbon. Right now that scrap of

  paper was worth a quarter of a million dollars. I took off my slouch hat and tucked the ribbon

  of paper behind the sweat band.

  Things were working out better than I had imagined. I had got the money out, now I had to

  get myself out.

  I remembered the .45 Colt automatic I had left in my desk drawer. I might need that gun, I

  decided to get it.

  It took me a couple of minutes to reach the office. I stopped short just inside the doorway.

  Della and Ricca were sitting near my desk. Ricca had the Colt in his hand, and it was

  pointing at me.

  VIII

  “Come in, Johnny,” Della said.

  I closed the door and walked across the expanse of fawn carpet, somehow keeping my face

  expressionless, and cursing myself for coming back.

  As I made for the desk, Della said, “Don’t sit there. That’s no longer your place, I want you

  to meet my new partner,” and she waved to Ricca.

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  “So that’s how it is,” I said. “Did he talk you into it or did you talk him into it, and what’s

  the idea of the gun?”

  “Neither,” Della said. “Miss Harris Brown talked you out of it.”

  I took out a packet of cigarettes together with the keys of the suitcase. Without letting them

  see the keys I let them slide into the side of the chair. I lit a cigarette and blew smoke at her. I

  could tell by the way she was breathing that there was going to be an explosion before long.

  She was only keeping control of herself because she wanted to prolong what she imagined

  was my agony. She was pale, and her eyes were deadly, and her breasts were rising and

  falling under the thin stuff of her dress as if she were suffocating.

  “I told you at the time,” I said, “that little mare was drunk.”

  “I know what you told me, Johnny,” she said her voice going shrill. “But I haven’t been

  wasting my time this afternoon. I have been making enquiries. You may not know it, but the

  guards log all cars that come to the gates. It didn’t take long to find the number of the Lincoln

  that brought you back the night you killed Reisner. It didn’t take long for Hame to find out

  the owner of the car is Virginia Laverick who has a beach cabin not far from here. Nor did it

  take long for me to find out she works at Keston’s in Miami, and Raul under a little pressure

  told me you and she often go there for dinner.”

  I wasn’t surprised. I knew she might dig out all this information as soon as she had left me

  after the scene on the terrace.

  “Do we have to go into this with Ricca here?” I said. “It can’t be much fun for him.”

  Ricca’s smile widened.

  “I thought it might be safer for you if I stuck around,” he said. “Della’s temper is a little

  uncertain. She wanted to shoot you as you walked in. I had trouble persuading her to change

  her mind.”

  “Maybe you’d better stay, then,” I said.

  “Do you deny you have an apartment on Franklin Boulevard, and this girl visits you there?”

  Della cried, leaning forward and glaring at me.

  “No, I don’t deny it,” I said. “What are you going to do about it?”

  She sat back, and there was a long moment of silence.

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  Ricca said, “Let’s skip the next piece and go right into the last act. We’re wasting time with

  this guy.”

  I was glad he was there. She looked ready to blow her top, but his cold flat voice kept her

  under control.

  “Yes,” she said. “We’ll skip the next piece. Well, Johnny, you’ve been warned. I told you

  to lay off other women.”

  “I know what you told me.”

  “Then you’ll rave to take the consequences,” she said. “I’m going to throw you out of here

  the way I picked you up: a third-rate fighter without a dollar to your name. How do you like

  that?”

  The least I expected was she would have me beaten up. I took a casual stare at the safe. It

  was shut. She couldn’t know I had tampered with it!

  “Now wait a minute,” I said, sitting forward, “you can’t get away with that. We made a

  bargain. I want my dough!”

  If I didn’t make out she was scoring off me, she might still decide to put a bullet in me. The

  rage and dismay I got into my voice even surprised me.

  “We made another bargain,” she said, “you’re forgetting that, Johnny.” Her eyes were

  bright with spite. “I said no other women - remember? You’ve gypped yourself out of a

  quarter of a million. How do you like that? Was Miss Laverick worth all that money,

  Johnny?”

  I twisted my face into what I hoped was a mask of infuriated rage and started up.

  “Sit down!” Ricca said, and the gun covered me.

  I sat down.

  “Throw me out if you like, but I’m going to have that money!” I snarled at her.

  “You’ll l
eave here without a dime and on your feet!” she said. “The guards have been told

  to let you out only if you are walking and you’re not carrying a bag. You’ll have a nice long

  walk ahead of you, and I hope you’ll enjoy it!”

  “Don’t imagine you’ll get away with this!” I shouted. “If you think you can gyp me …”

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  She was revelling in it now. I made out I was going to spring at her. Ricca stood up,

  threatening me with the gun.

  “Empty your pockets on the desk,” Della said.

  “Make me!” I said. “I’d like to see either of you get close enough to make me!”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Ricca said. “Do what she says or I’ll shoot you in the leg and

  you’ll damn well have to crawl out of here!”

  I thought of those three one-hundred-dollar bills I had hidden in my shoe, and I had trouble

  in keeping a straight face.

  “I’ll fix you too!” I snarled at him, and began emptying my pockets on the desk.

  When I was through she made me pull out the linings of my pockets to make sure I’d kept

  nothing back. I was glad I had stashed the keys in the chair. If she had seen those she might

  have looked in the safe. All the time I had been in the room I had kept my hat on. The receipt

  for the suitcase was burning a hole in my head, but neither of them thought to look inside my

  hat.

  “Okay, Johnny,” Della said, “now you’re all set to go. I hope you’ll be hungry tonight. I

  hope no one gives you a ride. I hope you rot in hell!”

  “I’ll fix you for this!” I yelled at her, and moved to the door.

  “Better get going fast, Johnny,” she said, and a cruel little smile lit up her face. “I said I’d

  throw you out as I found you, didn’t I? Pepi and Benno are on their way over. They should

  arrive any moment now. They seemed very interested to hear you were here. So this is where

  you came in, darling. You’re on the run again, and I hope they catch you!”

  I started to say something when the door opened and Louis walked in. Ricca hid the gun

  behind his back.

  “What do you want?” Della demanded. “Can’t you knock?”

  Louis’s fat face looked startled. “I thought Mr. Ricca was alone.”

  “Well, he isn’t. What do you want?”

  I went cold. I knew what he wanted. He had come to ask if I had managed to get the safe

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  open.

  “You talk to them,” I said to him. “I’m clearing out. That fat boy’s your new boss.”

  I shoved past him, jerked open the door as Della cried, “Wait!”

  But I didn’t wait. In three or four seconds she would know I’d beaten her to the punch. I

  had to get out and get out fast.

  I jumped into the elevator and rode to the ground floor. Moving fast, I crossed the lobby,

  pelted down the steps and vaulted into the waiting Buick.

  I shot away from the casino steps and down the carriageway like a bat out of hell. Half-way

  down I lowered the windshield until it was lying flat. I crouched down in the seat. By the

  time I saw the gates ahead of me I was driving at sixty miles a hour.

  The two guards were there. The green-eyed one had his gun in his hand. They had heard me

  coming, and probably she had phoned I was to be stopped, but I wasn’t stopping.

  Those gates looked big and impressive, but they had two weaknesses. They opened

  outwards and they were held shut only by a single bolt. Moving at this speed I didn’t reckon

  they would hold me, and they didn’t.

  The guards jumped clear as I swept down on them. I held the steering-wheel as tightly as I

  could and lowered my head. The solid steel bumpers smashed into the gates, and they flew

  open. The car rocked and swerved, but I straightened it, shoving my foot down hard on the

  accelerator. I heard the bang of a gun, but I didn’t care. I was through those gates and on to

  the highway. I went on feeding petrol into the cylinders: the speedometer needle flickered up

  to eighty. They would have to move to catch me!

  A couple of miles down the road I came to the bends: the climbing switchback that led

  across the dunes to the Miami Highway. I had to cut speed, but that didn’t worry me. They

  would take a few minutes to get after me, and they couldn’t go faster on this road than I

  could.

  Well, I had beaten her! I wanted to sing and yell. I had outsmarted her in spite of her

  smartness. I’d got the money and I was out, and before she could get things moving I’d be

  safely hidden in Cuba. I was riding higher than a kite!

  After driving for fifty miles or so, I turned off the highway and got on to the secondary

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  road. The Buick was an obvious car to spot, and I was less likely to be noticed on the

  secondary road than on the highway. Before long I would have to get petrol.

  I was running low.

  As I drove I remembered Ginny was staying with a girl friend in Miami, and I knew her

  telephone number. I decided I’d stop at the next filling-station and call her. I’d get her to

  charter a plane this night, and if I could persuade her to go with me to Cuba, and I thought I

  could. I’d be sitting on top of the world!

  About a couple of miles farther on I spotted a filling-station and I pulled in.

  An old guy with a goatee beard came waddling out of the shabby little office.

  “Fill her up,” I said. “Have you a phone here?”

  “Right in there, mister.”

  I suddenly remembered I had only three one-hundred-dollar bills on me. I bent down and

  flicked them out of my shoe.

  “I got nothing smaller than a C. Can you give me change?”

  “Sure. You go right ahead and phone. I’ll get you change.”

  The phone was on a battered desk by an open window. I called Ginny’s number. The light

  was fading now. It was getting on for nine. I could see the old guy pumping petrol into the

  Buick. On the desk was a packet of Camel’s. I took one and lit up.

  “Hello,” a girl said over the line. It wasn’t Ginny.

  “Miss Laverick there?”

  “No, she’s out, but I’m expecting her any minute now.”

  I cursed silently.

  “Okay. I’ll call back in five minutes.”

  I hung up and went outside to see how the old guy was getting on. He was screwing on the

  cap. “She’s full, mister.”

  “Get me the change will you? I want to phone again in five minutes.”

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  He got me the change and sold me a packet of cigarettes. I hung around and wasted eleven

  minutes before I finally got Ginny. By then I was getting a little uneasy. A fast car can cover

  a lot of miles in eleven minutes. I wasn’t kidding myself they wouldn’t be after me by now.

  “Why, Johnny, darling!”

  “Now, listen, kid. I’ve a surprise for you. I’ve got that job. Yep. I heard only just now. And

  I’ve another surprise for you. I’m on my way to you now.”

  “Why, Johnny, does that mean … ?”

  “Yeah, it means just that, but hold everything and listen. I’m to start work in Havana

  tomorrow. I want you to call the airport and charter a plane to Havana to be ready to take off

  in four hours. I want to know if you’ll come with me.”

  “Charter a plane? It’ll cost a fortune.”

  “Never mind the money. I’ve got all the money in the world. Will you come with me,

  Ginny?”<
br />
  “Tonight?” Her voice rose. “But I should have to pack and …”

  “It’s tough, but if you can’t make it I’ll have to go alone …”

  “Not another word, Johnny. I’ll make it I”

  That’s the kind of girl she was.

  “As soon as we arrive, we’ll be married, Ginny. Hold everything. I’m on my way!”

  I slammed down the receiver and ran out.

  The old guy was standing with his back to the petrol pump, his hands in the air and his

  goatee trembling. I pulled up short and spun around, my heart skipping a beat.

  Della was standing in the shadows, by the window, a gun in her hand, the awful little smile

  flickering around her lips.

  “Hello, Johnny” she said.

  I knew if I made the slightest move she’d drill me. There was a look in her eyes that turned

  me cold.

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  “Get in the car, Johnny; you and I are going for a ride.”

  And I knew if I even hesitated she’d shoot. I walked over to the Buick and got in under the

  driving-wheel. She opened the rear door and got in behind me.

  “Miami, Johnny,” she said, “and snap it up!”

  I trod on the starter, shifted into second and pulled away from the row of petrol pumps. The

  old guy still stood as stiff as a statue, his hands in the air. She had scared the guts out of him.

  We drove for about a mile in silence, then she said, “Where’s the money?”

  I could see her in the driving mirror, the gun was pointing at the back of my head. Her face

  in the moonlight was as white as a fresh fall of snow, and her eyes scared me.

  “Where you’ll never find it,” I said.

  “We’ll find it. Benno and Pepi are waiting for you in Miami. They’ll make you talk,

  Johnny, and then they’ll kill you, and you’ll be glad to die.”

  I kept driving. There wasn’t anything I could do about it yet, but I was working on it.

  “So you thought you’d marry her,” she went on, the words spilling out of her mouth in a

  vicious rush. “That’s a laugh! She’s in this, too. We’ll pick up Pepi and Benno, and then we’ll

  all go down to the airport and pick her up. You’ll talk fast enough when you see those two

  working on her. I’ll make her suffer! Don’t think she’ll escape. She’s in this as much as you!”

  That settled it. Only she had heard my conversation over the phone. Only she knew I had

  arranged to meet Ginny at the airport. It was as simple as that. Ginny wasn’t going to fall into